I was always pretty cooperative growing up, but the one order I rarely followed was “don’t cry.” Even as a little kid, I knew I got too much out of crying to give it up. Tears were my way of getting ...

The phrase “a good cry” dates back to at least the mid-1800s while the phrase “cry it out” dates as far back as the mid-1600s. Both phrases suggest in our lay language that crying can relieve some ...